Budget Box Pass

[craig]

Blue text is my calculated value.
Red text are prices I have thrown out.


A-Tray
T#55 La Flor Dominicana Cheroot 7.00
P#58 Arturo Fuente Don Carlos #3 7.21(172.00, 173.00, 173.25, 173.95, 181.95, 182.95, 192.90, 192.95)

B-Tray
T#8 José L. Piedra Petit Cetro Oct 07
1.50 (25.46, 27.50, 32.50, 36.25, 39.78, 48.00, 52.50, 54.95, 65.00)
P#59 La Cuna Bin #85 2.00 (I know its 33% above the take but I had a really hard time finding a 1.50 smoke).

C-Tray
T#41 Angel 100 1961 2.00
P#60 La Gloria Cubana 2.45 (111.95, 127.95, 127.99)

T#51 Casa Fuente Double Robusto 22.00
P#61 Davidoff Millennium Churchill 23.98 (239.40, 239.95, 239.99)

D-Tray
T#23 Montecristo #4 Jun 06
4.98(100.38, 105.38, 121.80, 124.80, 126.60, 128.00, 143.00, 146.00, 154.00, 172.95)
<withdrawn>P#62 C.A.O. Brazilia Samba 5.00 (Price I paid from devil site).

T#28 Partagás Short Cab Aug 06
3.94(180.60, 184.00, 194.60, 194.70, 198.24, 199.70, 203.55, 239.00)
P#63 Oliva Serie G Special G 4.22(99.95, 102.50, 106.25, 107.90, 110.90, 143.95, 143.99)



???? filled in, no new colors, 100 additional words. And I threw in another 10 words in memory of Billy Mays.

Your assumptions are correct:

• La Cuna is a Robusto
• La Gloria Cubana is a Minutos
• I found a math error on my Samba as I got some crazy prize for it the first time.
• Serie G Special G is Cameroon yes.
• Yes, the 219.70 should be there as well for the Partagas.

Proposed change:
T#23 Montecristo #4 Jun 06 4.98
P#62 Cuesta Rey Pyramid #9 5.14 (44.40, 44.95, 45.95, 51.99, 52.95, 52.95, 52.95, 56.95, 59.99)

Thanks!

All looks good to me!

I was wondering why the bolded figures became excluded?

[FactoredReality]

I was wondering why the bolded figures became excluded?

I was trying to meet:

c) dropped two vendors (which removes the $172.95); JLP 1.50; #4 $4.98; Short unchanged at 3.94

Although it was probably more PEBCAK (problem emitting between keyboard and chair) than anything.

I'll do the paperwork and have the pass ready to hand off to Will this afternoon.

Squares: A3 and E3 (I marked FR in my squares as there was already one Nate on the sheet)

Thanks for letting me participate in this craig (and everyone else). It has been a great learning experience so far!

[craig]

I was trying to meet:



Although it was probably more PEBCAK (problem emitting between keyboard and chair) than anything.

I'll do the paperwork and have the pass ready to hand off to Will this afternoon.

Squares: A3 and E3 (I marked FR in my squares as there was already one Nate on the sheet)

Thanks for letting me participate in this craig (and everyone else). It has been a great learning experience so far!

Ah. Okay. Doh!

Thank-you for playing!

Have fun tonight guys!

[FactoredReality]

The herf was an incredible success!

Ribs, beer, cigars, and great company.

Attendance:
badwhale
irish79 + wife
funkycold5
myself + girlfriend

A total of 19 sticks were burned by the 4 of us.

The pass is now in badwhale's posession.

[badwhale]

Nate decided to 1-day express deliver the pass to my house, via Badwhale Logistics. It made it to Bitterville in 2h-50min and was delivered safely.

I wouldn't recommend this shipping method, as it is a great expense. Bbasically the driver comes over to your house the night before, eats all your food, drinks all your beer and stinks up your whole backyard with cigar smoke.

It’s a very dependable service thought.

Anyway, I have the pass, like Nate said. I had a GREAT time at the herf, and I'll be posting some P/T hopefully before the weekend is over.

Thanks again Nate! And it was awesome meeting everyone else & their significant others!

Will

[ashauler]

The herf was an incredible success!

Ribs, beer, cigars, and great company.

Attendance:
badwhale
irish79 + wife
funkycold5
myself + girlfriend

A total of 19 sticks were burned by the 4 of us.

The pass is now in badwhale's posession.

Pics?

[badwhale]

Pics?

I think they're forthcoming... Dan's camera was clicking all the pics... I only have one from this morning

Will

[craig]

Something I should have mentioned earlier:

- While in transit, the cigars in the pass have been exposed to various temperatures, bounced around, shaken, and stirred.
- all the cigars in the starting line-up were conditioned to 72%RH@65F to help minimize the effects of transit. Tobacco with a moisture content greater then 70%RH@70F is essentially a vapour barrier, i.e., almost all the moisture in the binder/filler can only enter/leave via the foot. (70/70 is where about 11% to 13% of the weight of a tobacco leaf is water.)
- all the cigars in the starting line-up were put in cello. The cello both protects the cigars and is a moisture barrier. While cello is not an absolute vapour barrier, it does inhibit the movement of water vapour.
- ligero leaves (top of plant) absorb the most water, and are typically located in the middle of a cigar. Typically, fuller-bodied cigars have more ligero.
- besides moisture content, a cigar's draw is a function of how much tobacco is in the cigar, what kind of tobacco (viz. ligero, above), how old the tobacco is, type of filler (short/medium/sandwich/long), and the construction method (book vs. accordion vs. entubar) and the quality of construction. (As an aside, this is why more expensive cigars are usually heavier than less expensive cigars. Less tobacco generally loosens the draw, thus allowing the use of less expensive construction methods like booking, at the risk of the cigar burning too hot.)
- Cubans tend to pack in more tobacco and use younger tobacco, so they tend to experience harder draws. They also appear to have looser quality control than similarly-priced non-Cubans, so excessively hard-to-draw cigars do show up fairly regularly. I can't remember the last time that I used a draw tool on a non-Cuban, but I use a draw tool on Cubans fairly regularly.

What this means:
- cigars taken from the pass' initial line-up should be rested before smoking. Removing the cello will speed up that process. Roughly, with no cello, it takes about a month (if the RH has to be lowered) to three months (if the RH has to be raised).
- the usual impact of a hard draw is that the cigar burns funny, resulting in a sour taste. Regular purging (blowing out through the cigar) minimizes the formation of that sour taste, but once that sour taste is in a cigar, it probably isn't going away.
- most people find most Cubans draw decently when the RH is around 60% to 65%. If you have your humidor at 70%RH, then I highly recommend that you drybox Cubans. Note that I'm not saying that 60%-65% is the RH that a cigar will taste best at.
- because of the ligero factor, stronger and/or thicker cigars are usually more affected. For example, the Por Larranaga's (except the PLPC) don't have any ligero; I've never had a draw problem with those. OTOH, I've had entire boxes of stronger cigars that have had problems. (The box of Boli Short Boli's is the exception in this pass. So far, this box has had a very loose draw and can burn too hot if one uses the effort one assumes is needed with a Cuban.)

While I'm here, if you go the Cigar Aficionado website and look at the video's:
- in the most recent video, "Cuba's regionals," Suckling trashes the Boli Short Boli. There have been a lot of disparity in reviews of this cigar, which, I suspect, is due to folks' expectations for a Bolivar.
- in the video "Cigar Wars: Episode 2 - Cohiba vs. My Father" Suckling/Savona talk about the difference between the draws of Cuban/non-Cuban cigars.

[Irish79]

The pictures from the herf have been posted in this thread.

I concur that it was a great success and such a good time meeting everyone. badwhale & I might are going to try and meetup this week to hand-off the pass yet once again.

[badwhale]

Ok. Here goes (and I agree with Nate, that its hard to match prices...)

Take #12 Quintero Quintero Panatela Sep 06 ~ $2.32
Put #64 Famous Nicaraguan 3000 ~ Torpedo ~ $2.35
Analysis: ($46.99, ) = AVG $46.99/20=$2.35

Take #7 José L. Piedra Petit Cazadore Jul 08 ~ $1.90
Put #65 Indian Tabac Maduro ~ Boxer ~ $2.18
Analysis: ($54.50, ) = AVG $54.50/25=$2.18

Take #62 Cuesta Rey Pyramid #9 ~ $5.14
Put #66 La Gloria Cubana Serie R ~ #6 ~ $5.40
Analysis: ($142.95,$129.95,$129.95,$129.90,$129.95,$126.99,$ 129.95,$124.95,$126.00,$124.95) = AVG $129.55/24=$5.40

Take #63 Oliva Serie G Special G ~ $4.22
Put #67 Ramon Allones Small Club Corona ~ $4.28
Analysis: ($113.95,$107.00,$139.00,$103.00,$95.20,$83.16) = AVG $106.89/25=$4.28